Blog#4

The "Tough Guise" is a sort of front that men and boys put up so they look more masculine or tough. The tough guise can be beneficial to men and boys because it can be used as a defense mechanism. They might also use it to attract women, since we usually like to feel secure and protected, strength is a quality women sometimes look for in men. The tough guise can be an effective and adaptive response when it is used to scare off bullies in school or in sports to intimidate opponents, or even when it is used to act tough to get a girl interested in them.
It can also be self-destructive and dangerous when the it is taken too far and it is accomplished by hurting other people. This might happen when a boy putts on a tough guise by being the bully to other kids, or when a man instigates a fight in which someone could really get hurt. This could also be dangerous when a tough guise is accomplished by beating up women. People might think gender issues are synonymous with feminine issues because women are the ones who are on the losing side when it comes to gender, so they are the ones who would have problems with gender roles. Men do not usually have a problem with gender seeing how they get the upper hand for the most part. This can make it difficult for men and women to understand the gendered nature of men's lives because men are not supposed to talk about it. Men are supposed to handle their problems alone and not talk about them, and if they talk about them they are too sensitive or feminine. This pressure on men and boys to live up to the ideal of physical size and strength can have a huge toll on their lives. It can make them feel like they are not enough of a man if they are not strong. They might not get on the football team if they are not stalky enough, or might not get on the basketball team if they are not tall enough. This can also drive men and boys to use steroids to try and accomplish the size they desire. I think that media can inspire change because boys wouldn't know that they are not strong enough or big enough if they were not told this on a daily basis. The media feeds us these images of perfection thousands of times a day and we have to constantly compare ourselves to these images. We are susceptible to the media influence because it is everywhere, in every form, and they make it appealing to every single person. We are exposed to it at such an early age, and it teaches us how to think.